The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1887-10-11
EDITORIAL

TIC men ana other Journals WITHOUT
producing a particle Of evidence In
support Of their truth, it is throwing
mud in a despicable fashion. There
was not line in what 1t was pleased
to call the official interview of the
GAZETTE with the President of the
Board of Health, to indicate that the
Board favored the proposition that
three of Its members went to Kauai
to investigate. Had this paper been
employed. as our ingenious contem-
porary would have its readers infer,
to promote the scheme, it is strange
that the latter sheet should have been
unable to find any argument against
such scheme in addition to those
used in these columns, which neces-
sarily were written on the spur Of the
moment late at night, while the Bul-
lain had the best part of the day to
formulate its ideas on the subject.
As to the utility of the expedition,
that is matter to be gagged largely
by the amount of public opinion
backing the proposition. Under the
one man power Board of the old
regime, the matter would probably
have been set at rest by promises
never intended to be kept. Then, too,
before our contemporary miscalls the
expedition as "junketing trip" and
pitches into alleged waste of public
money, it should have ascertained
whether there is any fact at the bot
tom Of its criticism. The Bulletin, in
its anxiety that no other paper should
have any credit for independence,
misrepresented the interview with
DIR. Emerson in the manner alluded
to above. Our representative asked
the President for an account of the
trip and when he had taken that
down proceeded to interrogate him
regarding his impressions of the feas
ibllity of the proposition. In only
one instance did the doctor suggest
question, and that was on an impor-
tant point overlooked by the reporter.
He, moreover, invited the latter to
discuss the question editOrially as it
struck his own mind, without making
the slightest suggestion as to what
position thus paper should take 1t
was not, however, for this one in
stance of mud-throwing that our con-
temporary was challenged, but its
files are replete with small filings at
" the new order of things" Every
thing it can snatch up from the col
umns of foreign paper regarding
Hawaiian affairs is rushed into its
pages, without one word of contra
diction to what everybody in Homo
lulu knows to be utterly false. For
instance, we would cite what it has
published about military dictatorship
and the Ashfords."
In respect to the gentlemen named
in the phrase just quoted, it is about
time some of the lies the Bulletin has
helped to circulate were given a
quietus. Instead of Col V. v Ash
ford being the imperious dictator
represented in those slanderous
stories sent abroad and republished
with avidity by our evening contem-
porary, the fact is that since the
signing of the new Constitution the
commandment of the Honolulu Rifles
has carefully abstained from using
his position for selfish purposes. On
the contrary, when he had personal
matters arising out of the revolution
to be settled, he voluntarily placed
himself in the hands Of his friends,
civilian and others, cheerfully leaving
those matters, at their desire, in abey
anee until the supreme issues of the
election had been decided at the
polls. One of the questions was,
however, settled by arbitration before
that event, the second main point
being decided only the other day by
the Supreme Court. This was the
calm and patriotic course pursued
by Colonel Ashford, when he was in a
position to dictate terms to the new
Governmentsof far as it depended upon
a favorable verdict of the electors.
Loyal to the principles of reform,
he was one of the chief instruments
in effecting the splendid organization
of the party for the campaign, at any
time during the progress Of which he
had only to raise his hand and null
titude Of the best young blood assist
ing in the contest would have retired
from the field Again, instead of
members Of the Rifles being given
the preference in filing public of
fees, the facts are very much to the
contrary. Several applicants for Of
fees that they were competent to fill
have actually been rejected because
they were members Of the Honolulu
Rifles, and several other young mem
bers Of that body, whose private char
acters and clever business qualifca-
tions caused them to be sought for
filing vacancies, have declined offers
of Government situations.
1t i'll becomes the Bulletin to join in
the attempt to besmirch the record
of Col. Ashford in the revolutionary
movement, when it never dared to
strike at the root of the late mis-
government until apprised that the
bayonets of the Honolulu Rifles were
at its back. Rather let it expend